You need our Roaring Twenties corset pattern based on an original corset from the 1920s. Fits busts 32" through 48", waists 28" through 44" and hips 38" to 54" with instructions how to alter for larger sizes. Designed to flatten the bust and ignore the waist, it is the essential garment to wear under your 1920s dresses.

All sizes are included in one pattern. Detailed instructions, period tailoring directions, embellishment suggestions, and historical notes are also included.

Reconstructing History patterns are different from other reproduction patterns!

We don't just photocopy old patterns and sell them to you. We use the original patterns as a basis. Then we grade the pattern in modern sizes, up to 48" bust and 44" waist, so they'll fit far more sizes than the original patterns ever did. And we don't just stick you with the old vague instructions either. Kass personally goes through each pattern, improving the instructions, modernizing the vocabulary and adding in all those things that the old pattern companies assumed their customers knew. Yet we don't remove the flavour of the original pattern, so you can truly experience using a vintage pattern without all the trouble of resizing and "translating" it.

All sizes come in the same envelope. Also included are assembly instructions, embellishment suggestions, and the extensive historical notes you've come to expect from Reconstructing History.

Notions: thread, stay (twill) tape, hooks and eyes, elastic material

Yardage Requirements: 1.5 yards at least 45 wide

Let us help you! At Reconstructing History, we want to see you wearing the best garments you are capable of making. Call us Monday through Friday from 9am until 4pm Eastern Time (or email us at info@reconstructinghistory.com) and we will answer any questions you might have.

Below is an excerpt from our corset historical notes:

Late Corsets

When one thinks of corsets, the inevitable image conjured is that of Scarlet O’Hara clutching a bedpost, demanding that Mammy pull her corset more tightly so she could achieve her 18” pre-childbirth waist. This, of course, is a scene from a Hollywood entertainment, not a documentary on real corset use in the 1860s. And yet, it is what most people recall when they hear the word “corset”.

In the 1910s, the corset was quite a different thing from those Victorian waist cinchers. By the era of the Great War (1914-1918), corsets were no longer designed to support the bust and to reduce the waist. Matter of fact, many teens corsets did not cover the bust at all. Instead they were more along the lines of what we would term “girdles” today. The fashionable silhouette of the early decades of the 20th century was long and columnar. The 1910s corsets were designed to create this silhouette by smoothing the waist and hips.

In addition to the length and lower body position, another change from the classic corset shape was the addition of suspenders for holding up one’s stockings. Up until this time, stockings were held up by being tied around the knees with garters. In the 1910s, elastic suspenders were attached to the bottom of corsets and gave the first incarnation of what has become the garter belt today.

As the 1910s carried on, the rebellious trends of the 1920s took center stage and the corset as a universal undergarment would soon pass into memory. But among the not-so-young and the not-so-trendy, corsets remained an essential part of dressing.